Youngblood Hawke

Enjoyable, but should have been better (i.e., trashier) - 3 & 1/2 stars
Yes, "trashier" -- a failure to go completely over the top makes this film at best moderately enjoyable, rather than gloriously entertaining in the way only a full-blown Hollywood melodrama can be. Filming in B&W was a mistake, as this sort of story absolutely needs that wonderfully oversaturated Technicholor of the late 1950s, making everything look both larger than life & waxily artificial. It feels as if the film doesn't quite know which way it wants to go: a gritty portrait of a dog-eat-dog social world, or a shameless wallow in shallow excess. Because, let's face it, the latter is what makes this sort of movie so much fun!

Still, there's good work to recommend here. James Franciscus isn't afraid to make his character a hard-edged, self-involved cad, perhaps not quite as naive as everyone else around him seems to think. He knows what he wants (or thinks he does) & goes after it relentlessly. And you can't go wrong with a dependable character actor like Edward Andrews,...

Good DVD quality
I love the book "Youngblood Hawke", and have always wanted to see the film. When it became available on DVD on Amazon I decided to order it, despite a tad of nervousness about the recording being made on DVD-R recordable media, as I just hoped it would play on my DVD player.

However, my concerns were all for naught. The DVD played beautifully, and I was finally able to see this old film in its entirety with great picture and sound quality.

The film itself was a bit disappointing as Hollywood took a lot of liberties with the story, and they also ruined the ending. It certainly would make a good mini-series for TV, and I hope someone will do that at some point in the future.

James Franciscus
The movie is simple but yet the actor's are not...they shine and with a hot stud like James you can't go wrong....so sad he died at such an early age...he could have done so much more...

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